New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The lush, seductive, Old World elegance of New Orleans is gloriously revealed in this photographic tribute to the "Venice of North America." Richard Sexton's photographs capture balcony-lined streets, French-style parks, Caribbean-inspired gardens, and ornate public buildings, and take us inside some of the city's most intriguing private homes. This new edition marks the tenth anniversary with a new cover and binding, and a fully revised afterword. "Rarely," wrote The New Orleans Times-Picayune, "has the city been loved both so wisely and so well." A tribute to a lifestyle of insouciance and exuberance, touched by both spirituality and worldliness, New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence illuminates both the public face and the private soul of a perennially fascinating city. More than 200 full-color photographs and an insightful text capture the stories and characters of yore.

Author Biography: Randolph Delehanty has written over a dozen books including San Francisco Victorians and Randolph Delehanty's Ultimate Guide to New Orleans, which explores the Big Easy with a dozen walking tours. He lives in San Francisco. Richard Sexton is a New Orleans-based photographer, writer, and lecturer. He also teaches photography at the New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Southern Accents, Garden Design, and Smithsonian. His many books include Vestiges of Grandeur and Gardens of New Orleans.

SYNOPSIS

The Crescent City. The Northernmost Caribbean City. The City that Care Forgot. The Venice of North America.

Many efforts have been made to describe the style of New Orleans; a city at once enigmatic and complex. New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence is an impressionistic photographic essay that reveals what words can only partially convey. A paean to the art of New Orleans living, this book features the interiors, furnishings, art collections, and gardens of New Orleans residences that fuse refined elegance with an undercurrent of cultivated decadence.

This book also explores how the combination of a semi-tropical climate, a strongly European and Catholic culture, essential African influences, and the revelry of Mardi Gras have created a contemporary ambiance unlike that of any other city in Ameica. Richard Sexton's expressive vision of the city today is complemented by Randolph Delehanty's historical perceptions. New Orleans: Elegance and Decadence celebrates the joyous spirit of this distinctive culture and is an inspiration to those of us everwhere who pursue the art of living.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

This is a beautiful introduction to the multicultural art and architecture of the "Crescent City,'' the cognomen given to the city nestled along a tight bend of the Mississippi River. In this introductory history, the reader is familiarized with many new terms reflecting the multiethnic complexity of the local population. The combination of African, French, and Anglo-American immigrants formed a unique Creole culture that has produced its own music, cuisine, art, and architecture, displayed superbly in a vast variety of photographs. We are taken through interiors and enclaves, stopping in the homes and studios of several contemporary artists. The influence of French Impressionism is juxtaposed with modern New Orleans funk art, and we are struck by Catholic religious art permeating the cultural revelry of the city's famous parades. This book will entice anyone to visit New Orleans and will serve as pleasant reflection for those who have.

Library Journal

This is a beautiful introduction to the multicultural art and architecture of the "Crescent City,'' the cognomen given to the city nestled along a tight bend of the Mississippi River. In this introductory history, the reader is familiarized with many new terms reflecting the multiethnic complexity of the local population. The combination of African, French, and Anglo-American immigrants formed a unique Creole culture that has produced its own music, cuisine, art, and architecture, displayed superbly in a vast variety of photographs. We are taken through interiors and enclaves, stopping in the homes and studios of several contemporary artists. The influence of French Impressionism is juxtaposed with modern New Orleans funk art, and we are struck by Catholic religious art permeating the cultural revelry of the city's famous parades. This book will entice anyone to visit New Orleans and will serve as pleasant reflection for those who have.

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